The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Dodgers, NFL, Yankees

Episode Date: October 7, 2021

The Dodgers-Cardinals game won the nightTeams that are aggressive in the NFLA manager is only as good as his playersGuest: Albert Breer Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Oh, what a pleasure it is in the city that only wins Los Angeles. This is the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening or watching, Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio, and F.S1, Miami Joy Taylor is in the house today. What a night. last two nights of baseball at the iconic Fenway Park and at Dodgers Stadium. Last night was nerve-wracking. Baseball owned the night. It was, you know, we were talk, Joy and I were talking about this. When you live in Los Angeles, much like Boston or St. Louis or New York, Los Angeles,

there's four or five baseball cities in America where families have gone for generations. And as I was watching the Dodgers last night, it hit. me. I thought, here we were in this intense game and very few people had a beer or a soda or food in their hand. Why? You could not get up. These people are baseball fans. I was sh- Everybody. Nobody was leaving their seats. You could not leave your seats. We were going to have a classic two Hall of Fame pitcher duel. A single hit or a moment could change the night. It was so fantastic. You weren't there to be seen. No. You were there to see. You were there to see. And it was a moment.

It was. Baseball won the night. Dodger Stadium iconic, as it always is, was packed. It often is on the biggest nights. It was 40-year-old Adam Wainwright. 40 years old, 400-plus career starts. And one of the proudest baseball franchises, the St. Louis Cardinal said, Sir, can you extend our season?

He tried. And then there was Max Scherzer, great as a tiger, great as a national, bounced around more, he'll be a Hall of Fame. or two. Max Scherzer, though, at 37 years old, did not have his best stuff. Oh, he was good, and he's going to be a Hall of Famer. But he didn't have great stuff, but at 37 years old, he's been in so many big spots and so many big games, he got the outs that were needed. It never looked easy. The Dodgers fall behind one, nothing. And they needed every bit of their roster to win last night. So who else but just in turn? Sometimes he looks like,

an unmade bet of a dude. But if you ask anybody in Los Angeles, if there's one batter you'd want it to play in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7, it's Justin Turner. A professional baseball hitter and my favorite Dodger, he tied the game at one.

That's in the fourth. We go to the fifth, and Scherzer now is in more trouble. Two runners on, and the Dodgers go to the bullpen. Joe Kelly, who's had a sensational season an embattled career and one of the nastiest curves you'll ever see used it to get out of a very tough jam. The Dodgers bullpen on the night was magnificent.

Five relievers, no run surrendered against a very potent offense. And as Cody Bellinger has struggled all year, the former MVP, he had a very big night. Stolen bases, couple of hits. We go to the ninth, still tied, Bellinger, and again, he's very prone for the long ball. But it was stealing bases and singles last night. He gets on in the ninth, and here comes Chris Taylor, who has had a lousy month. Chris Taylor didn't even start.

And here's Chris Taylor with a walkoff to send the Dodgers to the Giant Series. They've never met in the postseason before. They will now. On two and one, Taylor, fly ball to left, and deep. And Doug! Chris Taylor, a walk-off home run. The Dodgers are walking off to San Francisco. They win the wild card. Three to one. Here comes Taylor to the plate. They are mobbing him. The crowd is going crazy. The Dodgers advance to the National League Division Series with one mighty swing by Chris Taylor. Chris Taylor, who'd had an awful month hitting, and Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger, and Joe

Kelly, and the rest of the bullpen, and Max Scherzer. This is not a rest on your Laurel City. It's highly competitive in television, in tech, and entertainment, in agriculture, and in sports. It's LeBron Factor. He came to town, and everybody ramped it up. Right now, Los Angeles is the winning-est pro-sport city in America. The Rams win, and the Dodgers win, and the Lakers win. win and the clippers win and now the chargers are winning. And the reason they're winning is because

very smart front offices who have been very shrewdly aggressive and spent the money that this market enables you to spend. And the Dodgers needed every dollar last night to get by a great franchise and probably the second greatest pitcher. You seem heads know the answer behind Bob Gibson in St. Louis Cardinals history. Magnificent night, baseball gave us urgency and when it does, it steals the night. Great win for the Dodgers. They extend the series to San Francisco. They have never met the Giants in the postseason. So these singular playoff games are odd. I'm not a huge fan. I don't think baseball's about a game. I think it's about a volume of games. It's about duration, longevity, a staff. It's about variables and elements that make a great

baseball team, which the Dodgers needed all of last night. But the Dodgers were put in a position, because the only team better in baseball than them was in their division, and they needed last night to win to face the Giants. They are favored. Should be as that will be as good a baseball series outside of the World Series as we've had in several years. So I want to talk about that this is interesting. Speaking of aggressive, it used to be in America. You could be a car dealer and nothing wrong with car dealers.

We love Mercedes. You could be a car dealer and that was enough money to own a sports franchise. Larry Miller, Utah, Jazz, the Mard Schott, I think was a car dealer, the Holt family with the San Antonio Spurs. They had a caterpillar dealership. They bought a team, selling caterpillars. And those businesses, what are those businesses about?

Customer service, loyalty, patience. Bottom line, making deals. Now sports and teams are way more expensive. Cowboys went on the market tomorrow. Don't believe anybody. Don't even believe Forbes. They'd sell for over $10 billion on the global market. Now teams are often owned by tech and hedge fund owners, right?

Now, what are those businesses like? Aggressive. Changing every 15 minutes, fluid. And the people that come from those industries, Mark Cuban, Steve Ball, Balmer, Joe Sy of the Nets, and David Tepper of Carolina. What do they do? Money's never an issue, and they're aggressive to a fault.

And if you're a fan out there and you have a new owner, cross your fingers that he comes from tech or hedge funds. Because the kind of personalities that flourish in those industries are aggressive people. Steve Balmer has completely changed the expectations, the veneer, and the image of the LA Clippers. And he did it quickly. I mean, really quickly. And the Nets, K.D., Hardin, Kyrie, Blake Griffin. The Carolina Panthers now are going to be perhaps the L.A. Rams East, hyper-aggressive.

they went out in the last week and secured, traded for C.J. Henderson and Stefan Gilmore, two very, very good corners. And I love what this does to an organization, whether it's the clippers, whether it's the Nets, by the way, the Milwaukee Bucks, hedge fund owner, what did they do in the offseason? They went and got PJ Tucker, Drew Holiday. They were already good. They were already favored in the East. what I think happens when you get tech owners, when you get hedge fund owners, these are people, it's not about customer service and loyalty, it's aggressive businesses that are changing rapidly, that you have to be able to pivot quickly. And they bring that culture to their teams.

And so when I saw that yesterday by Carolina, I thought, if you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan or a Brooklyn Nets fan or a Clipper fan or a Carolina Panther fan or a Dallas Maverick fan, that's what you want from your owner. Because whatever that person, he or she, the culture they made their money in, they will bring that to your franchise. Did you ever think in your life you'd say, yeah, the Milwaukee Bucks are champions and really aggressive? Well, they're kind of a small market team. Yeah, you just make things happen. So I think it's a very exciting time for some of these smaller market teams that are a little, let's be honest.

nobody's going to sell the Rams anytime soon, the New York Giants. The teams that you can occasionally buy are like a Tampa Bay raise or a Carolina Panthers or smaller market teams, right? You don't have these generational, generational, generational owners. So a very exciting time for some teams in this sport. And Carolina is very interesting. They do not care. They have become the opposite of the Packers.

They hire their coach. They pay their staff. They get the best coordinator. They get Sam Donald. They wanted to get Matt Stafford. They acknowledged yesterday. We're not done before the trading deadline. We have made multiple calls on offensive linemen.

We are not done. I love this for fans. Nothing worse than static owner. Money, bottom line, every deal. Open the wallet. It's fun. I'm going to say something nice about Baker Mayfield. No need to rush into that.

What else do I have today? Oh, can I defend? can I defend Aaron Boone and Dave Roberts? And it's not a popular position. You fans are so unrealistic. I mean, I'm going to have to scold you on this. Uncle Colin is at Wits' End

with the constant whining about Dave Roberts of the Dodgers. They've been to three of the last four world series, right? I checked this morning. It's called Google. Are you people out of your mind? We'll talk about that coming up and the impatience. And why? My fans always blame the manager. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager.

And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became. one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. and finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us

on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's first, friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that Izaa, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. You are now entering the No Bull Zone, sponsored by Credible. Great rates with none of the bull. Credible. So the last two days, all I've heard, and baseball fans do this, the solution is always blame the manager. Instead of acknowledging your bullpen isn't good, acknowledging some of your big acquisitions aren't great.

So Aaron Boone is suddenly no good, despite the fact that the Yankees went and acquired Joey Gallo, who can't hit. hit 160, 88 strikeouts in 58 games. That's not Aaron Boone's fault. He can't hit for him. And Dave Roberts cracks me up. Dave Roberts in the fifth inning last night pulled Max Scherzer. And as I was sitting on the couch, my thing was good call. He doesn't have his best stuff. And Scherzer's great. And Scherzer wasn't happy. But Max, because he's a Hall of Famer, was just getting through the, you could ask him. He didn't have his best stuff. He was just what a Hall of Famer does. He

was just getting through innings. Couldn't spot his pitches. And two, runners on, and this was going to be a game where you could not, you could not blow an inning. They already fell behind. They're at home. You can't blow an inning. So they bring in Joe Kelly, who again had a great year, nasty curve, and it got them out of the jam. And then they went eventually to Kelly Janssen, who had a bad year last year, this year was phenomenal. This is the second best bullpen in baseball, and two of the five relievers, the one in crisis and the one to close it, are two of their best. Folks, Greg Popovich,

remember we used to call him the best coach in the NBA when Phil Jackson retired? Hasn't on a playoff series since 2017. Last two years can't even get to the playoffs and half the NBA gets to the playoffs. He can't even get to the playoffs. Bill Belichick can no longer win home football games. Forget big road playoff games.

Bill can't win at home. You're as good as your talent. Last night, the decision, this was a game. And remember, Dave Roberts has massive expectations from ownership. It's got a huge payroll. That in itself is a component you deal with in a locker room. Highly compensated players. You're walking on some eggshells with some egos.

It's an incredibly deep roster. You've got to keep people happy. He dealt with major injuries to the staff. Cody Bellinger was hurt. Mookie Betts was hurt. Bellinger had a bad year. Again, this is a tightrope. It's a 162 game season.

A player turns up. Sonia in May, you may lose the locker room. The late Billy Martin Noah said, in a baseball locker room, 10 guys love me and 10 guys hate me. I try to keep the five guys that are undecided away from the 10 guys who hate me. And Roberts has a very, it's Joe Torrey. It's a kind of a vuncular, an uncle, a fatherly sort of personality, intense when he has to be demanding infrequently. but go look at the NFL standings this morning. Let's start with the AFC.

You're going to see a trend here. If you go look at the NFL standings, let's see who leads the AFC East. Oh, they have the best quarterback, Josh Allen. Who leads the AFC North, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrell? In my opinion, the two most talented quarterbacks. Who leads the AFC South? Right now, the quarterback playing the best, Ryan Tannehill. Who leads the AFC West?

Well, Mahomes is one game out, but it's Herbert who's playing great. Derek Carr, who's playing great, and Mahomes is one game out. Let's go to the NFC standings. Oh, this is remarkable. Who's leading those standings? Dak Prescott, the best quarterback in his division. Aaron Rogers, the best quarterback in his division. Tom Brady, the best quarterback in his division.

By the way, Sam Darnold is second. He's playing second best. And Kyler Murray right now is playing the best football in his division. You're as good as your players. You've got to have closers. You've got to have talent. The bottom line is Dave Roberts, everybody thinks, give me all the good players, and I'll just insert them. Folks, you could see how upset Max Scher was when you pulled him out of the game.

That's the, that's the egg shells. That's the tightrope of managing Hall of Fame pitchers. And Scher's going to be a Hall of Famer. Great with Detroit. Great with Washington. These are tough conversations. They leave Marks. Scherzer wouldn't give him the ball. He shook his hand. This stuff is hard. And, you know,

you guys all want to eat baseball managers alive. It's not Aaron Boone's fault. The front office signed John Carlos Stanton, who's the same player as Aaron Judge, just older and more expensive, and they signed Joey Gallo who can't hit. And they paid a fortune for him. I'm off my soapbox. I'm defending managers and coaches. You're as good as your talent. Joy Taylor with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. By the way, Tommy LaSorda recently passed away, 20 years Dodger manager won two World Series. And they had great staffs.

And he had Hall of Famers. It is. And by the way, the Dodgers, the best team in baseball this year is in the Dodgers division. So, I mean, like, they had things not go their way. The Giants massively overperformed. Who were we talking about yesterday? We were talking about this yesterday about firing the coach. I can't remember what it was.

But it's, yeah, like you can't. can't, that's the easy solution. Yeah, I think it was Matt Nagy. Yeah, go ahead. Run Matt Nagy off and then give Justin Fields in his second year, new playbook, new coordinator, new coach, new coach, like he got Mitch Trubisky twice to the playoffs. Well, because it's not as easy to move players around. So while it may generally be on the players, and sometimes it is the coach.

Sometimes the coach is not capable. There's bad coaches. But it's not always the solution. So the Steelers are off to a poor start this season, and the offense has been under a lot of scrutiny during the three-game losing streak. Mike Tomlin has even been asked if Ben is the right quarterback for the team. Ben's dealing with a hip injury, and he's not making any excuses and expects to be better going forward. I need to be better. I need to fight through and figure out how to make better decisions, how to make better throws,

how to, you know, be a better football player. And that's why I just said, I'm not going to quit. I'm going to keep doing that. It's still early, and there's still a lot of fight left in us. Yeah, well, you can say that stuff. Well, the be a better football player thing is a little confusing to me because Ben is not a young man. Like, you know how to play football. Yeah.

You know how to play winning football. You've been in this league a long time. So it's not about, not that you ever stop improving, obviously, but at this point it's very obvious. I think you do. I think you stop improving when you get older. You plateau and if you can make, like Brady's not improving. He's just maintaining as much of his greatness as he can. Well, I think Brady, first of all, Brady's cracked the code. So I don't like to put Brady in, he's in a separate category.

And while I do think there are more athletes following that Brady-Lebron, you know, style of maintaining your body and spending a lot of money on your body, Russell Wilson is obviously someone who always bring up. Until I see this happen again, Brady is going to be an outlier in that physical space for a long time and the same with LeBron. They just have unrealistic, ridiculous longevity. been declining for four years. Right. So my thing with Ben is, it's not that I don't think that Ben doesn't know how to play football,

that he's making bad decisions. I think his body is limiting him on making the throws and playing the way that he has played in the past. It's not a mental thing at this point. He's never been an efficient quarterback. He has been a talented quarterback. But he was never, you know, 72% completion percentage. He threw his picks. He's a home run hitter.

He's Cody Bellinger, the Dodger. He's a home run hitter. You ask him to hit singles. He has games, but you have him there because he gives you power. And Ben gave you the great deep ball, the big play. And even Tomlin said it yesterday. Can't move anymore. So now you take out the movement and you're left with an inefficient non-mover.

You can't win the NFL in 2020. There's just too many good players. I mean, good God. Just look at their division. Look at the quarterbacks in their division now. Right. And because they can't run the ball, they have to rely on Ben to throw more than he should be throwing. realistically, you'd want a more balanced offense for an older quarterback,

because you don't have to have over the top, you know, big play capability to win in this league consistently if you have a balanced offense and your defense is able to keep you in the game as well. So it's a matter of they're relying on Ben too much. His body is not capable of doing what he used to be able to do. And their running game is horrific, which is not going to work in the AFC North. It's not working now. Imagine when the weather starts getting bad and you really can't move the ball at all.

They have the worst rushing offense, 55. point three rushing yards per game in the league right now. They have the 28th ranked rushing grade and 27th ranked run blocking grade this season. So they're not getting anything going in the run game and relying on Ben who's not physically capable of doing it. So after the Chargers beat the Raiders on Monday night, Joey Bosa made some critical comments about Derek Carr. Not very nice.

Yeah, I mean. I just thought it was unfortunate that he'd even think to say it. Maybe he's just trying to get under my skin, which he did piss me off. So good job for that. But that's not a bad thing. either. Boza said that Carr looked shook

after getting hit and once they put pressure on them they knew could shut down and not be as effective in the pocket. I don't have any problem with Bosa saying that.

First of all, say what you want. You're the winners. So that's fine with me. And he was hit eight times Derek Carr and sacked four times, which affected the game. Like that's,

we talked about this yesterday. Nobody likes getting hit. I don't want to get hit by a Bosa brother. Like, that's not, that's not going to be a, it's not a good recipe. for winning the game, getting hit that many times, and allowing your quarterback to be under duress.

Now, I think they'll be fine, and John Gruden talked about not panicking about the offensive line, but they do need to fix that, especially they look like they could be contenders this year. So that's not going to work, especially going into later in the season, if he's going to continue to get hit that way. Yeah, Colton Milders are really good offensive line,

and after that, it's not, he's their guy. After that, it's a little spotty, but I love the Raiders this week. I love, love, love the Raiders in the game this week. Well, speaking of that, yesterday, Justin Fields was named the Bears starting quarterback going forward, and he's taking his new role very seriously. I think you'll like this, Colin. I don't know if you heard this yet.

He and his family wanted to celebrate. His parents were in town, and they got the news, obviously. They wanted to celebrate their son being the announced the starter of the Chicago Bears, a very big deal, and he had other plans. My parents were actually at my house last night. I told them, and they wanted to go out to celebrate and I'm cool. I mean, of course, there's some reason to celebrate, but, you know, I'm not just going to be complacent with where I'm at. I'm going to continue to grow, continue to get better, and just try to work hard each and every day to, you know, get wins on Sunday.

You didn't go out without you? They went out without me, yeah. Were you just home alone? I was just home, yeah, with my dog, Uno, watching film last night, so that's all I was doing. And by the way, when you're a quarterback, if you want to be a social butterfly, You're not going to be a quarterback in the NFL. From August 1st to February, hopefully, I know a lot of you will like, I got to get a lot in party. No, no, no.

You can do that. This is what a franchise quarterback has to do. Stay home with your dog and watch film. That is the responsibility to be the face of a franchise. That's an adult. That's a grownup. That's understanding not doing 38 commercials and getting chunky in the offseason. It is, this is what you do.

You stay home. You watch film. you are representing the franchise. It's the biggest moment in your career. That is an adult. That is why I'm so hard on quarterback when I see James Winston or Baker, Johnny Mansell, show me in maturity in college, and I crush him. Or Zach Wilson, I seem to be careless and a little cocky with the ball.

That's why I crush him. Can't be. This is a grown-up position. It is unfair, but the reality of the NFL quarterback, you are asked to have the maturity of a 45-year-old man at 23. Yep. That sucks, but that's the game. So that's why I crushed Jameson College, crush Baker,

crushed Cam, crush Johnny. And I always said, it's not a talent thing. You're not ready to run a franchise. It's a lot of responsibility. And the conversation about why he wasn't the start to begin with was because he was, quote, unquote, not ready, right? That's why Andy Dalton was out there because Andy wasn't going to make those mistakes. and Andy's a veteran.

Well, this is what the job is. And to your point, it's not fair, but there's also some perks that come with being the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears. And sometimes it's grind time, and then you can celebrate and have, you know, dinner with your parents in the off season. Now there's anything wrong with having dinner with your parents.

But this is this, and we in the media, we love this stuff, right? Like, he's a grinder. But there is something to this. Yeah, of course, yes. Like, you only have so much time in the day and how you use it is important. We talk about this all the time.

Being a little nerdy. is kind of an asset for quarterbacks. It really is. Justin Herbert. By the way, Patrick Mahomes is great at this. I know people that know Patrick, and he's like, he's a total homebody. Yeah. Like he'll go to a big fight and back on the plane, get home. Like Patrick Mahomes loves football, loves his wife, the baby, family.

It's like, it's, you don't, the biggest turnoff for me is when I see a quarterback that wants to be cool. I'm like, not interested. I just talked to this to a buddy the other day. I said, it's such a turnoff to me. But anybody who gets a little bit of shine or a little bit of clout or a little bit of responsibility and space and power and then immediately tries to elevate that beyond what it is, we're always cautious of because you have to earn that, right? You earn your respect. You earn your space in that area.

And when you're putting in work, that pays off in the long run. And it's all like nerdy and boring and like everyone's rolling their eyes right now. But this is how it goes. It's a process, and I like that he said that. So do I. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd-Lie News. Brought to you by Mercedes-Benz, the best or nothing we bring on, NFL reporter, Monday morning quarterback Albert Breyer. You know, we were talking about this. The game tonight, so when Matt Stafford went to the Rams and left the Lions, Vegas did not change anything.

Lions were five-win team with Stafford. They were five with golf. The Rams were a 10-win team projected with Goff. Ten and a half was Stafford. Well, through four games, he's had one great one, two Oaks, and a bad one. And tonight's interesting. He goes on the road. So last week, he is the second best quarterback in a game in his division against Kyler Murray.

If he goes on the road again tonight and looks like the second best quarterback, my takeaway is Albert, well, then it's just a little better than Jared Goff. Because that's what I always felt with Goff. He was the second best quarterback in all these division games. So I feel like Matt Stafford, this is a big game for him tonight. I know it's early, but it feels substantial. And it's on the road and a tough place to play against a team that should be desperate for a win. The Seahawks come in and one and three, they absolutely have to have this one.

So, you know, I'm with you. I think this is a big spot for Matthew Stafford, especially coming off a loss and seeing how he responds to that. And look, Colin, like, I don't think we're under any illusion that they got Matthew Stafford for September and October. That was an acquisition for January and February when Sean McVeigh felt like with defense's game planning against him specifically in game planning against the quarterback specifically he needs somebody he could do a little bit more. But, you know, I think we can make some assessments on where they are in September and October as they build towards January and February. And so, yeah, I mean, this feels like a big spot because, you know, again, hostile environment, a proud franchise that needs this win and a superstar quarterback on the other side.

And so we're either going to come out of this one saying, yeah, you know, Matthew Stafford bounced back, the Rams are where they need to be, or man, like, you know, were we hoping for a little bit more out of this acquisition by LA? Let's talk about Justin Fields. I tend to be start the old guy. A lot of people want to start the young guy. But what I would caution everybody in Chicago with today is now it, and we do this in baseball, where every manager with every pitching change should be let go. And I look at Tribisky getting to the playoffs. twice with Matt Nagy, a young Trubisky, and I think, I don't worry about Matt

Nagy, but the next four games for the Bears, Albert, these are losses. The Angry Raiders, a couple at Tampa, and so you can't look at this with wins. You have to have perspective on Justin Fields. What are you hearing and your thoughts on what we should expect in the next month?

Because I don't think we're seeing Ws for Chicago. And I think I've been through this with you before, Colin. The difference with this year is versus most quarterback classes is that three of the five guys went to teams that have been in the playoffs really recently had reason to think that they were contenders. And Matt Nagy is dealing with a locker room with guys like Coil Mack, like Robert Quinn, like Eddie Jackson, proud veteran players.

So going with Andy Dalton was always about the other 51 guys in the roster, not those two quarterbacks. And I think part of the process here for Matt Nagy and company was convincing the locker room that Justin Fields was the right guy. and they had to let that happen naturally. And I think what you've seen, and having talked to Matt Nagy after the game on Sunday, is sort of what I took away from it, the improvement from week one to week two. And the job that the coaches did in finding ways to get more out of Justin Fields,

week one to week two, what do you look like versus the Browns, what do you look like versus the Lions? I think proved to people in that locker room, we can manage some of the things that we're going to have to go through with a rookie quarterback. in exchange for getting that higher ceiling with Justin Fields. And so could they get knocked around a little bit in the next couple of weeks? Sure. But I think as much as anything else, having talked to Matt and some of the other coaches there,

this really was about the improvement week over week. And that really kind of showed the rest of the team. There is a higher ceiling that we can pursue here. And we can do it while managing some of the shortfalls that having a rookie quarterback in there is going to bring. I thought the CHA, Seahawks would go after Stefan Gilmore of their few draft picks. They took a corner last year, a smaller corner. He has not played of note yet.

Instead, it was Carolina who drafted J.C. Horn, who got C.J. Henderson. I thought it was a super aggressive move. What did you make? I mean, let's be honest, outside the Rams, everybody in the league wants a corner. What did you make of Carolina getting it? Well, I mean, the first thing I think we have to mention here, and this could affect the trade dead. line two in a month is the cap situation most teams are in. This is because of COVID, Colin. 20 of the 32 teams in the league have less than $6 million in cap space this morning.

Stefan Gilmore, you acquire him, you're taking on $5.8 million. So almost every team that New England had talked to and tried to peddle him to would have had to do some things to make space for him and push some of those cap charges further down the line. And we know COVID's going to affect the cap next year as well. And so I think that's a big part of why there wasn't more of a market for him. I think what the Panthers are doing here, Collins twofold. Number one, this is Matt Rule sending a message to his locker room. We believe we can win right now. Even coming off of that loss against Dallas, we think we have a defense that can be elite. We think we've got enough with Christian McCaffrey coming back on offense. The team has an identity. It's a tough group of players. We think

that we're a contender right now. So that's number one, sending that message to your locker room. Number two, they've invested a lot in the corner position. And even if Stefan Gilmore isn't the guy he was a couple of years ago when he was defensive player of the year, do you know what sort of benefit J.C. Horn and C.J. Henderson. And even though Horn's hurt right now, what those two guys are going to get from being around Stefan Gilmore. So from a player development standpoint, they're able to do this and say, okay, we're going to bring in a guy who he thinks a good player still. But even if the injury holds him back, even if his age holds him back a little bit,

We've got young players in the building that are a big part of our future that we believe are going to benefit from having this guy around. Yeah, good stuff. All right, Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback. I know your Buckeyes are not looking as good as you like them to, and the Big Ten's never been better. So I just want you to bring your expectations down, Albert. It looked great. I think the I didn't a sleeping giant might have woken up on Saturday, you know. I know a lot of people didn't watch that Rutgers game, but that looks like a totally different team.

All right. Okay, Albert. Michigan's for real. This could be the year. Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback. I'm going to say something nice about Baker Mayfield. It will be brief, but I think it needs to be said. You know, it's so nice to live in a city with winners.

Isn't it? It is. It is. I just feel good today. It's a good energy. It's a great energy, just winning everywhere. It's just like postseason baseball is so. So romantic.

And it's intense. I'm telling you that Dodger Stadium, those fans, I don't know why this jumped out to me. Nobody had a beer. Yeah. I mean, because I watch what's going on. People weren't leaving. Nobody was leaving their seat for three and a half hours. Like it was just, everybody was glued.

You watched some of these baseball games. You don't like the one game play out, but like that's why I like it. Like the urgency is. Right. I think it's ridiculous. But I do get why they're doing it. Yeah. It totally sucked me in.

Baseball from 5 o'clock yesterday till 8.30. at night. Then I took some robotussin and slept like a bear. I hibernated for nine hours. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines. accurate stats to help you win big at the sportsbook and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say it. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor

the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing

something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager.

And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on a how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. and finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's first first, stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball.

Like, you go through a training camp with that I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fairdi was founded by Twin Brothers. Family business, best-looking clothes, backed by a life time. guarantee of quality. 20% off. Go to Fairetybrand.com

slash herd. I love their stuff. Good to have you. I'm almost through this thing, by the way. Greg CoSell, top of the next hour, 15 best minutes of the week. Greg CoSell, top of next hour.

I'm almost through it. You sound better. Fever's gone. Head cold's better. Moved into my chest. A lot of robitussin. Going to get through this thing. A little hibernation last night.

Did you get the chicken noodle soup? I'm going to get the chicken noodle soup today, by the way. It's going to fix you right up. It fixes me right up. So, listen, I try to be fair. Now, I'm very critical. And I remember years ago I always tell the story. My mom was not that adaptable to the Internet.

She's an old British woman at the time and said, I hear you're very controversial. She had a friend. She said, Norma, my friend, says you're very controversial. And I told my mother, I said, fan is short for fanatic. If you don't tell fans what they want to hear, they get very, very, very controversial. angry, very visceral. I said, I'm not controversial. I'm outspoken, and I give strong opinions with not a lot of wiggle room, and that bothers people. You know, I've always said about Baker Mayfield and Johnny Mansell and James Winston and Cam Newton. If I see immaturity in college, it's a huge

turnoff. Not saying you're not a franchise quarterback. I have no interest, you being mine. Get boring. Zach Wilson. Stop being loose with a football. Zach Wilson. I don't want to show off. I want a franchise quarterback. But Baker Mayfield now has a legitimate coach, appears to have an excellent general manager, still don't trust ownership, but the roster's good, they're not paying him anything, so it's important for Cleveland now to decipher. Is he the guy? And I think this needs to be reported that Baker Mayfield suffered a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder back in September against the Texans. He has been wearing a shoulder harness to play. Now, he has good protection, running game, but if you're a pro athlete and are playing with a torn laborum, even if it's not

in your throwing arm, I think it needs to be acknowledged. Baker's career has overwhelmingly been proving doubters wrong, a little short, not the athlete. It was a walk on a couple times in college. I think he has a chip on his shoulder and a toughness that is important for that position, and it's serving him very well. I said before this season, and this goes for every industry. Your bosses will decide what they're going to do with you at least a year before they tell you. I came into this season and I said, the Giants will decide by Thanksgiving, what's up with Daniel Jones. I believe the Giants have decided Daniel Jones is not the problem. Over his last eight to 10 games, he has dramatically cut down on turnovers. He played very well on

the road, beating the Saints. I think privately the Giants feel we've got our guys. We've got our guys. we can win with him. Six foot five, pretty athletic. He's cut down on his biggest liability. Now, with Baker Mayfield, I think the lien is to pay him a bunch of money. In Los Angeles, the standards are greater. Everybody wins here. You got to be competitive. We don't rest on our laurels. Jared Goff got to a Super Bowl. They bailed on him. In Los Angeles, Baker wouldn't get re-signed. Josh Allen would, Herbert would. But it's Los Angeles. But this is Cleveland. And I do think Baker is a winning quarterback now. And it's going to be hard. hard to move off him. But I will say this, the next eight weeks are going to determine a lot.

Because not only does Cleveland play good teams, but in the next eight weeks, they face Justin Herbert, Tyler Murray, Joe Burrow, Mack Jones, Lamar Jackson twice. What does that mean? Side by side with young quarterbacks. And Andrew Barry, the general manager, is going to be upstairs, looking at Kyler's possessions, and now it's Baker's turns, and Justin Herbert's possessions, and now it's Baker's turn, and it's Lamar. And if Baker doesn't stack up, the eyes don't lie. And he's not winning games, he'll be in trouble. Because the litmus test is not the first two years when he didn't have the right coach. It is now, and it's not beating Pittsburgh. Big Ben's an old man, it's a bad team. How does he look? Because once you pay him big money,

the roster tends to decline. You're not going to have free agent right tackles that are pro-bow level players. You can't just go get an interior defensive lineman or a pass rusher, or have Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham and Austin Hooper, and you don't get the ends. You can't go get a John Johnson. Your roster declines. You need more from the quarterback.

So I think the next eight weeks, when you have these young star quarterback, side by side with Baker, how does he stack up? Now my gut feeling is Baker's going to play well. He'll get re-signed, but it'll be interesting. If Kyler Murray looks fantastic and Justin Herbert is amazing and he faces Herbert this week and Lamar Jackson and they're all coming out and Baker's throwing up a few more of those biking games, that's where people have to make decisions. Now Cleveland's standard is not very high.

It's not and it's going to be very hard to move off a, you know, a playoff quarterback. It's very tough in Cleveland. It's very easy in Los Angeles. They moved off a Super Bowl quarterback. They move off stars here all the time. They moved off Shaq. Literally, they moved off Shaq when he was still near his prime. That's what you do in big cities like LA,

because a lot of people want to play here. And there's a lot of money to go get who you want to get. All right, Greg CoSell, as you know, is great, and he is going to be joining us an hour or two. Also, Greg Olson today. Can't wait for that. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'll say. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey,

or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network,

on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.

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